Yarn feeding means



Nov. 5, 1935. I w. N. '1 AGGART 2,019,940

I YARN FEEDING MEANS 7 Original Filed Feb. 17, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTOR WILLIAM N. TAGGART BY HIS ATTORNEYS MMM Nov. 5, 1935.

w. N. v TAGGART 2,019,940

YARN FEEDING MEANS Original Filed Feb. 1'7 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I IINVENTOR WILLIAM N. TAGGART BY HIS ATTORNEYS Y m Mm Patented Nov. 5,1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,019,940 YARN FEEDING MEANS William N. Taggart,Manoa, -Pa.,- assignor, by mesne assignments, to Standard Trump Broa,Machine 00., Inc., a corporation of Delaware Original applicationFebruary 1'1, 1930, Serial No. 429,181. Divided and this applicationJanuary 23, 1934, Serial No. 707,976

2 Claims.

' My invention relates to yam feeding and con- ;trolling' means forcircular knitting machines, and more particularly for circular knittingmachines having means for making ornamentation .on a' stocking or fabricby means of wrapping special yarns, or wrap yams, around selectedneedles. One object of my invention is to insure that the wrap yarncontacts only with the needles where the pattern is desired.

Some of the wrapping mechanism and other features shown and described inthis application are claimed in my co-pending applications Serial Number404,024, filed November 1, 1929, Serial Number 560,153, filed August 29,1931 and Serial Number 429,181, filed February 17, 1930, of which lastmentioned application this is a division.

Referring to the drawings which are made a part of this application andin which similar ref erence characters indicate similar parts,

Fig. 1 is a plan illustrating the principal parts of my invention;

Fig. 2, a front elevation;

Fig. 3, a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, viewed from the leftside of the machine; and

Fig. 4, a vertical section in a different plane on line 44 of Fig. 1,showing certain parts in another position.

In the drawings, reference character I 0 indicates the latch ringbracket which is pivoted as usual at a point (not shown) to the left ofthe parts shown in Fig. 3, this bracket supporting the latch ring ll,yarn guides l2, l2, and I3, andcontrolling levers ll for said yarnguides. The yam-guide l2 supplies the body yarn A, the yarn guide I 2supplies a yarn B used only on horizontal stripes or plated work, whilethe yarn guide l3 supplies a yarn C for the heel and toe. In Fig. l,yarn C is shown as passing to the needles while the yarn A is held outof action by a binder hereinafter described. The yarn guides are broughtinto operative position by elevation of that part of a lever ll which isshown in Fig. 3 and are moved to idle position by springs II, yarns Aand B being conducted to the yarn guides or yarn fingers by tubes l3 andyarn C by a shorter tube I! (Fig. 2). The course of the active yarnfrom'th'e guide l3 through the throat of the latch ring at l3 and thento the needles I3 is indicated in Fig. 1.

when a yarn is brought into idle position it is carried around by theneedles which in the embodiment of the invention hereillustrated aremounted in a revolving needle cylinder l9, so as to lie underneath asmall disk 23 which serves as a yarn clamp or binder and another part ofthe yam nearer the fabric passes under a movable shear blade 2|. A fixedhorizontal plate 22 coacts with the disk to clamp the yarn and thisplate also supports a fixed shear member 23, on which the movable shearmember 2| is pivoted as indicated at 24. A spring 25 coiled about pivotpin 24 biases the movable shear blade toward closed position. The plate22 is supported by a bracket 26 mounted for radial adjustment on a block21 fixed to the latch ring i I, as more fully explained I in myco-pending application Ser. No. 404,024, the outermost portion ofbracket 26 having a radial slot engaged by a screw 28 (Fig. 3). Thebracket carries a guard 29 for holding the pattern yarns above thelatches of the needles following 15 the line of normal needle height (i.e., not specially elevated by the parts Ila, l2, l3, and II), at pointswhere said yarns are taken by the needles, these points being determinedby abutments 30, 3| mounted for radial adjustment on 20 blocks 32, 33 bymeans of screws 33 engaging radial slots in the abutment members 30, 3!.Blocks 32, 33 are secured tothe latch ring by screws 32', 33', (Fig. 2)having slots providing for circumferential adjustment of blocks and the25 abutments .carried thereby.

The guard 29 extends around the needle circle to a point at the right ofthe yarn fingers, as shown in Fig. 1, and the plate 22 extends to theleft somewhat beyond the end of the guard 29. At its left hand end,referring to Fig. 1, the plate is provided with an upwardly inclinedfork separated from another and longer upwardly inclined fork 33 by anotch 31 into which the yarn falls when a yarn finger is put intoaction, 35 thereby causing the end of the yarn to be drawn from underthe clamp 23 as "the needle cylinder revolves and pulls on the yarn end.At the inner edge of the fork 33 there is a substantially upright curvedplate 33 (Figs. 1, 2, and 3). This 40 plate serves as a separator tokeep the main yarns supplied by guides l2, l2, and I3 away from certainstriping or pattern yarns hereinafter described, said yarns beingintended for making vertical stripes and other ornamental or otherdesirable figures and structures. I

The mechanism for operating the cutting and binding devices includes avertical slide 33 movable up and down in a guide member 40 secured tothe latch ring normally pulled into lowermost position by the springsll, only one of which is shown, the springs being attached at one end tothe pin 42 on the slide and at the other end to screws 43 on the part43; At its upper end the slide is provided with a plate 43 extending in-35 ward over plate 22, a. yarn guide 45 being mounted above the plateand secured to the slide by a screw 46 which also serves to hold theplate in place on slide 39. The plate has a hole to receive the stem ofa plunger 41' (Fig. 4) whose head is shown at 41 and which fits in thehollow connecting rod 48 pivoted at its lower end to the movable shearblade 2|. The connecting'rod 48 is connected to the plunger 41' by a pinand slot connection indicated at 49 so that the shear is openedpositively near the upper end of the movement of the slide 39, the pinand slot providing a lost motion connection for operating the shearblade 2|. A lifter rod 50 is secured at its lower end to the clampmember 20 and passes at an intermediate point through an opening in anarm 5| (Figs. 1 and 3) secured to and movable up and down with the slide39. It willbe seen that the arm 5| will engage with nuts 53 on lifterrod 50 as the slide 39 moves upward ind so will lift the binder 20against the resistance of a spring 54 (Fig. 3) surrounding a stem 55(Fig. 1) which is fixed to plate 22 and guides the binder 20 for up anddown movement, the spring being held between said binder and a collar 56secured to the stem 55. It will be seen also that the binder disk 20will be lifted to release the yarn before the shear is opened and willclamp down upon it again before the shear is closed, due to the lostmotion connection at 49.

For lifting the slide 39, the slide is provided at its inner side withan ear 51 and its outer face with a lug 58. The ear 51 is secured to anindependent slide 58' mounted for up and down movement in the slide 39and normally held in its upper position by a spring 59 (Fig. 2). A camface at 60 (Fig. 3) on a slide 6| which is reciprocated horizontally bypattern controlled means (not shown) serves to lift slide 39 by engagingunder lug 58. The slide 6| is normally retracted by a spring 62. Whenadvanced it lifts the slide 39 to an elevation corresponding to thedotted line position of ear 51 in Fig. 2. Thereafter a cam face 63 on acam 64 which is one of the revolving cam elements of the machine engagesunder the ear 51 and lifts it to the upper limit of movement of slide39. The ear 51 is movably mounted with respect to the slide 39 in orderthat the parts may not be damaged when. the latch ring is swung up andout of action and returned. It will be noted in Figs. 2 and 3 that cam64 is supported by the bed 66 of the sinkers 61, just below the sinkercam ring 68, but this and other features of my invention are subject tochange as will be understood.

Yarn guides 69 are shown in Fig. 3 as being positioned above the latchring. These guides are so located and operated as to wrap pattern yarns10 about needles which have been selectively elevated adjacent one ofthe abutments 30 and 3| for the purpose of receiving such pattern yarns..To selectively elevate needles, mechanism such as is shown inmy'companion appli-v cation Ser. No- 404,024 is provided. This includesspecial cams H, one for each point where needles are to be speciallyelevated, these cams being mounted on stems 12 movable radially inbearings 13 by suitable patterning mechanism.

Jacks 14 are located in the needle slots under-v neath all the needles,or only below certain ones if preferred. The jacks 14, in addition tothe conventional butts, also have patterning butts 14c and 14d atdifferent levels for coacting with the special elevating cams 1| Thepatterning butts are of different lengths and they may vary widely inthe series, so as to raise needles in varying. numbers and in varyingsequences according to the positions of the special lifting cams 1|(only one of which is shown in the drawings). Each lifting cam 1| can beused 5 in association with a different abutment to provide selectingmeans at a plurality of points. The yarn guides 69 may be mounted formovement back and forth across the needle circle in any suitable manner,as for example in my ap- 10 plication Ser. No. 404,024, above referredto. The principal function of the separator 38 is to prevent thesepattern yarns from becoming entangled with main yarns, whereby theymight be carried into the cutting and binding devices 15 or theiroperation otherwise interfered with. It will be evident fromconsideration of the drawings that the pattern yarns will always be heldinside the space defined by the separator and so kept away from thecutting and binding de- 20 vices, whereas the main yarns will always bekept at the other side of the separator so that they can readily be cutoil? and the ends of the yarns held in appropriate manner. To insureagainst any accidental movement of a pattern yarn outward beyond thefree end of extension 36 and separator 38, as by reason of ballooning, aplate 1| is fixed to the latch ring bracket ID in a manner to cover thefree end of extension 36 and separator 38, the extreme end of plate 1|also 30 providing an abutment to limit the inward movement of the yarnfingers l2, l2, and I3 in their idle position.

In the operation of my device the machine continues to knit until a yarnis to be changed 35 at which time one of the main yarn guides goes intoaction and another goes into idle position. The yarn of the guide whichhas just been operatively positioned is taken by the needles and knitinto the fabric. As the cylinder revolves this 40 will cause a pull onthe end which is held by the clamp and cutter. At the time of yarnchange, however, the slide 39 has been elevated, firstto the dotted lineposition of .the lug 51 by member 6|, and then by the revolving cam 6445 to the fully elevated position. In such upward movement it will firstlift the clamp or binder 2|) and then open the shear by lifting themovable blade 2|. In this way the end of the yarn which has been putinto action is released so 50 that it can be pulled away from the cutterand clamp by the movement of the needle cylinder. At the same time theyarn guide that has come into idle position will raise its yarn so thatit will be carried between the horns 35 and 36 of 55 the plate 22 andunder the clamp disk 20 and the movable shear blade 2| by the rotationof the needle cylinder. The slide 39 is now permitted to descend byretraction of the horizontally movable slide 6|, closing the clamp firstto hold 60 the idled yarn and then closing the shear so as to cut itoff. The pattern or lap yarns 68 are moved radially of the needlecylinder by their guides 69 so as to place them either in idle positionor in position to be engaged by the needles 65 but regardless of theirposition they will be held away from the cutter and clamp at all timesby the cooperative action of the plates 22, 44, and 1|. The stripingyarns 10 pass to the needles within the space which is defined in part 7between its guide and the needles or the cutting and binding means.Hence the main yarn is always separated from the striping yarns by theparts enumerated.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may bemade in the device of my invention all without departing from the spiritof my invention and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown inthe drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicatedin the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. The combination in a circular knitting machine, of a rotary circle ofindependent needles, means for selectively elevating the needles,radially-movable means for laying a pattern yarn across the needlecircle in front of a needle so elevated, and a guard in fixed positionin the needle circle adjacent the selectively-elevated needles, theupper margin of said guard following the line of normal needle height atthe point where said yarns are taken by the needles to preventengagement of pattern yarns by needles not specially elevated.

2. The combination in a circular knitting machine of a rotary circle ofindependent needles, means for selectively elevating the needles at aplurality of points in the needle circle, radially movable means forlaying pattern yarns across the needle circle in front of needles so 10where said yarns are taken by the needles height 15 to preventengagement at either of said points between the pattern yarns andneedles not specially elevated.

WILLIAM N. TAGGART.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2, 019, 940. November 5, 1933.

WILLIAM N. TAGGART.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 3,second column, line 15, claim 2. strike out the word "height" and insertthe same after "needle" in line 14; and that the said Letters Patentshould be read with this correction therein that the same may conform tothe record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 10th day of December, A. D. 1335.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

